“[Assad's] mood is that he will be killed
anyway,” Fyodor Lukyanov, editor of a Russian foreign
affairs journal and the head of an influential policy group, said
in an interview in Moscow, adding that only an “extremely bold”
diplomatic proposal could possibly convince Mr. Assad that he
could leave power and survive.

“If he will try to go, to leave, to exit, he will be
killed by his own people,” Mr. Lukyanov said,
speculating that security forces dominated by Mr. Assad’s
minority Alawite sect would not let him depart and leave them to
face revenge. “If he stays, he will be killed by his
opponents. He is in a trap. It is not about Russia or
anybody else. It is about his physical survival.”